Now lawSchools & Uni Introduced in the House of Representatives, 05 Nov 2025

People can now use old works when owners cannot be found

Many old photos, letters and films sit unused because no one can find who owns them. This law lets people use them after a careful search. It also makes clear that online classes get the same copyright rules as real classrooms.

Official name: Copyright Amendment Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Libraries, archives, museums and researchers: They can share old material whose owner cannot be found, with less legal risk.
• Family historians and creators: They can use orphan photos, letters and other works after a proper search.
• Teachers and students in online or mixed classes: They can show and play copyright material in live online lessons, as in a classroom.
• Copyright owners who turn up later: They can ask for a fair payment. They can agree terms if the user wants to keep going.

Orphan works sit unused

Copyright means the maker or owner of a work controls who can copy or use it. A work can be a photo, book, song or film. Normally you need the owner's say-so.

Sometimes the owner cannot be found. Maybe they died long ago, or the business that owned it closed. These are called orphan works. Libraries and archives hold lots of them. But using them is a legal risk.

The Parliamentary Library works for all MPs and takes no side. It says the problem grew after a free trade deal with the United States. That deal stretched copyright from 50 to 70 years after the author dies. Reviews since 1999 have looked at fixing it.

COVID-19 also raised a question about classroom rules. Section 28 of the Copyright Act, the main copyright law, lets teachers show and play copyright material in class without paying. But its wording could be read as only covering people in the room.

In 2023 the Attorney-General's Department held 4 meetings to talk it through. That is the federal department for law and justice. Creators, schools and cultural groups took part. This bill puts what they agreed into law.

How orphan works are used

Using an orphan work without the owner's say-so still breaks copyright. But the law limits what the owner can win in court if the user followed the rules.

To be protected, the user must first make a careful, honest search for the owner. It must be done a fair time before the use. A record of the search must be kept for a fair time. The user must also clearly say that the owner could not be found.

How hard you must search depends on the case. You must try harder for recent works and works made to sell. You must also try harder for private or sensitive material, and if you plan to make money. Works that hold First Nations culture need extra care. First Nations means Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. That includes asking the community it belongs to.

The government's notes give an example. Printing a work on goods sold around the world needs a much harder search. Putting it on a flyer for a school play needs less.

Say you find an old photo of your town in a museum and want it for a local history book. You check records online and contact the photographer's old studio. You keep notes. Then you print a line saying the owner could not be found.

If the owner turns up

The owner might come forward later and sue. If so, the court cannot award damages, profits or other money. It can order a fair payment, much like a normal fee to use the work.

There is no payment for private use at home, as long as the user stops quickly or agrees terms with the owner.

The user may want to keep using the work. Both sides can then agree terms. If they cannot, a court can set fair terms or stop the use.

The government says the scheme is unlikely to suit training AI on huge amounts of material. Each work would need its own search and notice. The scheme only covers uses that start after the law began.

Rules for online classes

Part 2 of the law rewrites section 28 so it covers online and mixed classes. A class can now have some or all of its students online. A teacher can teach from home and still be covered.

People who are not teachers can give the lesson too, if they are not doing it to make money. That could be a librarian, a museum guide, a police officer or a local guest speaker. It does not cover paid private tutors or paid trips run as a business.

Parents and others who help a student in a lesson count as taking part. That includes a parent helping a child log in, or reading along with them.

Say a teacher plays a short film clip in a live video lesson while a parent sits with their child. That is now clearly covered.

The rule only covers live lessons, or nearly live ones with small tech delays. It does not cover recorded lessons watched later. It does not cover school events like concerts and school fairs. The government says it does not change paid deals to use material that already exist.

Copyright Tribunal appointments change

Part 3 changes who picks the stand-in head of the Copyright Tribunal. That body settles some fights over fees, a bit like a court but less formal. The minister can now pick the senior Deputy President for this. The Governor-General used to do it. It also makes it simpler to appoint the tribunal's chief clerk.

It updates the list of government archive offices. It also moves some public notices from an old printed government paper to a modern online system.

It also makes clear how long government copyright lasts. That covers works made by or for the government. The special time limit only applies to material the government made or first put out. It does not cover material the government later bought from someone else.

Start date

Attorney-General Michelle Rowland, the minister for the law, is in charge of the bill. It was brought into the House of Representatives on 5 November 2025. That is the house of Parliament where the government sits. The House passed it on 4 February 2026 with 3 changes from the government.

The Senate passed it on 31 March 2026. The Governor-General signed it into law on 1 April 2026. The Governor-General is the King's representative in Australia. It started the next day.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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